With the balance of power between Republicans and Democrats on the line, Florida’s epic recount shifts to the state capital Wednesday as lawyers battle for the upper hand in several lawsuits filed in federal court in Tallahassee.

As of Tuesday morning there were three legal actions filed in the U.S. District Court's Northern District. By the end of the day, a flurry of other cases were on the docket, bringing the total to seven.

And all of them are landing on the desk of Chief Judge Mark Walker, who has ruled against Gov. Rick Scott several times in astringent, colorfully worded opinions.

The legal actions deal with a range of legal issues from mismatched signatures to vote-by-mail deadlines to whether Gov. Rick Scott — a candidate for U.S. Senate — should recuse himself from the recount process.

Two other statewide races are on the line — the governor's race between Republican Ron DeSantis and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and the Agriculture Commissioner race between Republican Matt Caldwell and Democrat Nikki Fried.

Four of the suits were brought by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson or entities acting on his behalf, including the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign committee and VoteVets, a political committee that represents military veterans.

An official ballot for the general election in Palm Beach County, Fla., is shown Nov. 7, 2000. The close proximity of the holes and the numbering system for the candidates caused some confusion for voters. James Prichard, AP

2000: GEORGE W. BUSH. It was a nail-biter election that came down to a contentious recount in Florida, but in the end, the Republican made it to the White House. Bush won Arizona more comfortably. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Broward County canvassing board member Judge Robert Rosenberg looks over a questionable ballot at the county courthouse in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., during the 2000 presidential election recount. Rhona Wise, AFP/Getty Images

Photographers take pictures of Kim Watson, who is dressed as Darth Vader to protest outside the Leon County Public Library, while the recount of the Miami-Dade under vote is taking place inside on Saturday in Tallahassee. Craig Litten

AP
FILE- In this Nov. 22, 2000 file photo, Broward County, Fla. canvassing board member Judge Robert Rosenberg examines a challenged vote at the Broward County Emergency Operations Center in Plantation, Fla. The 2000 presidential election was decided in Florida by 537 votes after the U.S. Supreme Court halted recounts. The election increased rancor between the two major parties and highlighted deficiencies in the nation's voting infrastructure. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File) Wilfredo Lee, AP

Dexter Douglass, attorney for Al Gore, answers questions from the media who packed into a tight area outside the third-floor courtroom where the arguments for and against the manual state recount were heard. Phil Sears

Leon County Supervisor of Elections, Ion Sancho, left, and other election officials recount general election ballots Tuesday morning at the Leon County Courthouse. The ballots were left over from the recount that was halted two weeks ago because of the Supreme Court decision. Craig Litten

Leon County Commissioner, Bob Rackliff, and Leon County Supervisor of Elections, Ion Sancho, recount ballots on Wednesday in the Leon County Courthouse that were cast in Leon County during the general election on Tuesday. (not pictured also counting was County Judge Tim Harley). Allison Long

George W. Bush attorneys Irv Terrell, left, and Phil Beck hand out material to the media in front of the Leon County Public Library, before the Miami-Dade under vote recount began on Saturday morning. Craig Litten

"We're challenging the statutes and the construction of them that interferes with the counting of lawful votes cast by persons entitled to cast them," said Ron Meyer, a Tallahassee lawyer for Nelson and the other plaintiffs.

The most recently filed lawsuits seek to extend the deadline for the recount and challenge rules established to determine voter intent, Meyer said.

The flurry of lawsuits has been met with countermeasures by lawyers for Scott and the Republican Party.

On Election Night, Nelson appeared to have lost to Scott by 60,000 votes. But as supervisors of elections around the state continued to count ballots, that margin eroded to within .15 percent.

Scott responded by accusing "unethical liberals" of trying to steal the election and by suing supervisors of elections.

The first courtroom hearing on any of Nelson's lawsuits is set for 1 p.m. Wednesday before Walker in the Nov. 8 case that challenges the “standardless signature matching process” that puts “tens of thousands of Florida voters at risk of disenfranchisement in the 2018 general election.”

In past rulings, Walker has struck down Scott administration policies, forcing the extension of voter registration deadlines after Hurricane Matthew and declaring unconstitutional the Florida Cabinet's right to vote process for felons.

Walker wound up with the Nelson signature case after Judge Robert Hinkle recused himself, Judge Hinkle said he had a conflict of interest because his brother Don, a lawyer, had a case against Scott. Don Hinkle sued Scott for not disclosing what's in his blind trust.

Walker has subpoenaed Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley to “provide an example of one process a county supervisor of elections and county canvassing board uses to determine whether a provisional or vote by mail ballot should be rejected for a signature mismatch.”

The grounds for such an interview was set in 2016, Walker said, when the previous Leon County Supervisor of Elections, Ion Sancho, was called to testify in a similar case.

Walker also noted that Maria Matthews, the division director for elections for the Secretary of State, will testify on several items, including:

the number of provisional and vote-by-mail ballots rejected this election because of a mismatched signature,

guidance the division provides to election supervisors and canvassing boards to determine a mismatched signature,

and whether those rejected provisional and mail-in ballots have been separated out from the 8.2 million ballots cast.

VoteVets Action Fund, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, filed a suit Monday challenging the deadline for mail-in and provisional ballots. Thousands of ballots were rejected because they were sent in before Nov. 6 as required by law, but weren’t received until after the 7 p.m. deadline, the request for an injunction said.

Senator Bill Nelson smiles as he leaves RedEye Coffee in Midtown, Tallahassee, Fla. where he appeared with former Vice President Joe Biden while campaigning for re-election Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018. (Photo: Tori Schneider/Tallahassee Democrat)

“The outright rejection of such ballots, based on arbitrary conditions – namely the timeliness of post office delivery – outside the voter’s control unlawfully infringes upon the fundamental right to vote,” the request said.

Walker will also hear that case, after Judge William Stafford disqualified himself without giving a reason.

A conference call was held at 2 p.m. in the VoteVets case where Walker set a tight schedule showing he really wants to move things along. Declarations were due Tuesday. Counter declarations and notices requesting evidentiary hearings are due by noon Wednesday. Responses to motions for a temporary restraining order are due by 6 p.m. Thusday, with reply due by midnight.

The VoteVets suit was met with several filings by Republican Party officials to intervene.

“This lawsuit proves that the Democrats, are indeed, trying to steal this election by asking a court to turn illegal votes into legal votes," said State Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. "They can't win, so now they are trying to move the goal posts after the election and circumvent Florida law to get the outcome they want. It is desperate and shameful.

GOP officials told Republicans not to mail their ballots but to personally deliver them to their local supervisor of elections, Ingoglia said.

"This brazen attempt by Democrats to re-write the law after an election will do nothing but leave Republican voters and candidates unduly, and disproportionately harmed," Ingoglia added.

Another suit, filed by the League of Women Voters, asked the court to remove Gov. Scott from having oversight of the recount process. A conference call has been scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m. on that case.

CLOSE

Florida Governor and Senate candidate Rick Scott says he is asking the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate elections offices in Palm Beach and Broward counties, questioning whether they were trying to inflate the Democratic vote. (Nov. 9)
AP

A lawsuit filed in Leon Circuit Court by former Ocean Beach Mayor Jim Bonfiglio — a candidate for House District 89 — seeking to extend the reporting deadline for ballots was removed at the request of Secretary of State Ken Detzner to the federal court. Two and a half hours later Leon Circuit Judge Karen Gievers issued an order in that case extending the recount deadline to Nov. 20.

In addition, seven voters Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Detzner and 15 supervisors of elections claiming that elections officials have not maintained the digital images of their ballots. These "unpreserved digital images are in danger of being obliterated and overwritten by the tabulation of recounted ballots," the lawsuit said.

The supervisors named in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, represent counties won by both Republican and Democratic candidates.

The suit claims that although digital images are required to be kept for 22 months, that has not been done.

“Defendants have been and are violating Florida laws by instructing or allowing election officials and workers under their supervision to not save the digital ballot images," Miami attorney Benedict Kuehne and Washington attorney Carl Sautter wrote. "Without the preservation of digital ballots, plaintiffs’ rights to a fair and accurate election will be denied.”

Democrat reporter Karl Etters contributed to this article.

Contact Schweers at jschweers@tallahassee.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.